Sat, 06 Aug 2005

Linux for the desktop

The original osnews
article that this
ZdNet article claims to rebut says that one of the things
that needs to be done is to have some company come out with good
pre-installed systems (with some CD's containing additional
software and a support infrastructure thrown in). The OSNews
article also says that this is targetted at users who would be
willing to learn the new interface if it was "cool enough" and
goes on to claim that the current desktop interface is (cool
enough). The target users are also those who are attracted to the
MacMini but find it too expensive and/or limited in terms of
available software.

The ZDNet article nowhere refers to these points---instead the
author talks mainly about how Windows users will find it
difficult to migrate to a typical GNU/Linux system. The author
then concludes that the way to simplify this is to make a Desktop
that looks like Windows but is GNU/Linux inside.

This is a very old flaw---like the British Labour Party
turning into a clone of Ma Thatcher in order to come to power. Or
the communists turning on its head the philosophy of the
withering away of the state. The problem with "World Domination"
is that you feel the need to go down such a path---becoming like
the rival or perhaps even worse.

I think the OSNews article makes a very valid point that some
company needs to realise that there is a 5% and very visible
market share to be captured by having pre-installs of something
like Ubuntu/Mandriva or whatever. The folks at Apple and Sun
(note the Java Desktop OS) have realised this but have not been
able to keep the costs low---perhaps because they are older
corporations with hidden costs. So someone can capture
this segment first---world domination can wait.

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